Nordic Rouge – Organic Aronia & Redcurrant Juice 3 L

Aronia and Redcurrant in Scientific Research

1. Arterial stiffness

In a 12-week randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 102 middle-aged men and women, aronia (poly)phenol supplementation significantly improved measures of arterial stiffness: pulse wave velocity fell by 0.24 m/s and 24-hour peripheral augmentation index by 6.8%. [1]

2. Endothelial function

A 12-week randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 66 healthy men measured flow-mediated dilation, an ultrasound measure of how well an artery widens as blood flow increases. Both aronia extract and whole fruit powder outperformed placebo — by 1.2 and 0.9 percentage points respectively. [2]

3. Gut microbiota

Both of the above trials tracked the gut microbiome, and both found it shifted. The larger reported increased microbial gene richness and increases in the butyrate-producing species Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus and Intestinimonas butyriciproducens; the earlier one reported a rise in Anaerostipes on the extract and in Bacteroides on whole fruit. [1] [2]

4. Inflammation and antioxidant enzymes

A 2025 systematic review of 18 human studies, lasting four to thirteen weeks, reported reductions in C-reactive protein, TNF-α and IL-6, increased IL-10, and raised activity of the body's own antioxidant enzymes — superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase. [3]

5. Cognitive performance

Three randomised controlled trials from the same Dutch research group have measured cognition on aronia. All three used a standardised aronia extract at defined anthocyanin doses of 40–180 mg a day, not juice. In the largest, 101 healthy adults aged 40–60 took the extract for 24 weeks; psychomotor speed improved significantly at the 90 mg dose. A 2024 crossover trial in 35 younger adults found movement time on a five-choice reaction-time test improved by 4.8%, alongside a 5.7% rise in serum BDNF. A 2025 crossover trial in 30 older adults with overweight found executive function improved, with roughly 20% fewer errors on planning and spatial working-memory tasks. Mood was unaffected. [4] [5] [6]

6. Blood lipids

A 2025 GRADE-assessed meta-analysis of seven randomised controlled trials found LDL cholesterol fell by 4.77 mg/dL. That was the only lipid outcome to reach significance. [7]

7. What redcurrant brings: vitamin C, and only one pigment

Redcurrant is the lighter half of this pair in every sense. Across three cultivars grown and analysed together, fresh redcurrant held 23.23–44.62 mg of ascorbic acid per 100 g and 12.14–22.06 mg of total anthocyanins — against 161.58–284.46 mg and 116.17–287.78 mg for blackcurrant from the same orchard and the same laboratory. [8] A 2024 survey of pressed currant juices found redcurrant juice at 261 ± 101 mg of ascorbic acid per kg, and it also settled a question of identity: delphinidin-3-glucoside and delphinidin-3-rutinoside were not detected at all in redcurrant juice, though both are abundant in blackcurrant pressed on the same line. Redcurrant's colour rests on cyanidin glycosides alone. [9]

8. Acid rather than sugar

What redcurrant has in quantity is acid. The same 2024 juice survey measured citric acid at 23.2 ± 7.0 g per kg of redcurrant juice and titratable acidity at 25.5 ± 3.8 g per kg, with sucrose below 0.1 g per kg — effectively absent — and the sugars present as glucose and fructose at roughly 3.3–3.7 and 3.7–4.0 g per 100 g. At 12.3 ± 2.3 °Brix it is a markedly less sweet juice than blackcurrant. [9] In the berry, citric acid accounts for almost the whole organic-acid pool, and it is the predominant acid in every black and red cultivar examined. [8] Aronia contributes the opposite character: its astringency is a mechanical event rather than a taste, in which long proanthocyanidin molecules bind salivary proteins and precipitate them out of solution. Acid and tannin are the two halves of this blend. [12]

9. How far the redcurrant research actually goes

It is worth being plain about this: almost all of the clinical currant literature is on blackcurrant, not redcurrant, and redcurrant's own evidence base is early-stage. The most thorough study to date worked with freeze-dried juice and freeze-dried press residue of the cultivar Redpoll, tested on isolated rat ileum, six tissue segments per group. In a DPPH assay the freeze-dried juice gave a half-maximal concentration of 0.98 ± 0.04 mg/mL against 1.58 ± 0.20 mg/mL for the press residue — both far weaker than ascorbic acid at 6.14 ± 0.64 µg/mL. The same work measured 230 mg of ascorbic acid and 155.38 ± 7.34 mg of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside per 100 g, but per 100 g of freeze-dried material, not of juice — water removed, so roughly ten times the concentration of the pressed juice it came from. [10] Figures like these circulate as though they described a glass of juice. They do not.

Serving

Two independent trials that gave participants 200 ml of aronia juice a day found that about half of those taking part reported digestive discomfort — bloating, nausea or loose stools [11]. The reason is sorbitol, a sugar alcohol present at 8.56 g per 100 g of aronia fruit, which draws water into the gut at higher doses [12]. Starting at 100 ml a day is better tolerated than one large serving. Redcurrant juice is also strongly acidic — roughly 2.3 g of citric acid per 100 ml [9] — so, as with any acidic juice, it sits better with a meal than sipped over a long stretch.

References

1. Le Sayec M, Xu Y, Laiola M, et al. The effects of Aronia berry (poly)phenol supplementation on arterial function and the gut microbiome in middle aged men and women: results from a randomized controlled trial. Clin Nutr. 2022;41(11):2549–2561. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2022.08.024 · PMID 36228567
2. Istas G, Wood E, Le Sayec M, et al. Effects of aronia berry (poly)phenols on vascular function and gut microbiota: a double-blind randomized controlled trial in adult men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019;110(2):316–329. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqz075 · PMID 31152545
3. Sarıkaya B, Kolay E, Guney-Coskun M, Yiğit-Ziolkowski A, Aktaç Ş. The effect of chokeberry on inflammation and oxidative stress: a systematic review. Nutr Rev. 2025;83(6):1083–1098. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuae143 · PMID 39499790
4. Ahles S, Stevens YR, Joris PJ, Vauzour D, Adam J, de Groot E, Plat J. The effect of long-term aronia melanocarpa extract supplementation on cognitive performance, mood, and vascular function. Nutrients. 2020;12(8):2475. doi:10.3390/nu12082475
5. Ahles S, Joris PJ, Plat J. Effects of acute and longer-term aronia berry extract on cognitive performance and BDNF. Eur J Nutr. 2024;63(5):1545–1553. doi:10.1007/s00394-024-03381-3
6. Ahles S, et al. Aronia extract, executive function and cerebral blood flow in older adults with overweight. Clin Nutr. 2025. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2025.106561 · PMID 41499921
7. Karimi M, Javadi M, Hamzavi SF, et al. Effects of chokeberry products on cardiometabolic indices in adults: a GRADE-assessed systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs. Nutrire. 2025;50(2):53. doi:10.1186/s41110-025-00359-x
8. Nour V, Trandafir I, Ionica ME. Ascorbic acid, anthocyanins, organic acids and mineral content of some black and red currant cultivars. Fruits. 2011;66(5):353–362. doi:10.1051/fruits/2011049
9. Podskalská T, Bhujel NK, Hranicková M, Beňo F, Tobolka A, Čížková H. Compositional characteristics of currant juices prepared by different processes and other selected currant products. Appl Sci. 2024;14(14):6029. doi:10.3390/app14146029
10. Cvetković M, Miladinović B, Branković S, et al. Red currant (Ribes rubrum L.) fruit waste extract and juice as potential spasmolytic agents. Plants. 2025;14(2):234. doi:10.3390/plants14020234 · PMID 39861587
11. Lackner S, et al. Gut microbiota and metabolite response to aronia juice. Microbiome. 2024;12:49. doi:10.1186/s40168-024-01774-4 · PMID 38461313
12. Sidor A, Gramza-Michałowska A. Black chokeberry Aronia melanocarpa L. — a qualitative composition, phenolic profile and antioxidant potential. Molecules. 2019;24(20):3710. doi:10.3390/molecules24203710 · PMID 31619015